YouTube threatens to yank more anti-COVID Vaccine videos for false information

*Video-sharing giant YouTube has already banned posts that spread false myths around the Coronavirus treatments from the social media platform

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

For peddling false information about duly approved Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines in cyberspace, YouTube has disclosed it will remove videos that deceitfully claim such approved vaccines are dangerous.

ConsumerConnect reports YouTube is an American online video sharing and social media platform owned by Google.

It was launched in February 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is the second most visited website, with more than one billion monthly users who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos each day.

Other social networks are also seeking to crack down on health misinformation around COVID-19 and other diseases in the virtual arena, report said.

Video-sharing giant YouTube has already banned posts that spread false myths around Coronavirus treatments, including ones that share inaccurate claims about Covid-19 vaccines shown to be safe.

However, the Google-owned site reportedly said its concerns about the spread of medical conspiracy theories went beyond the pandemic.

The Google-owned Web site in a statement said: “We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general,”

“We’re now at a point where it’s more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines.”

According to the company, the expanded policy will apply to “currently administered vaccines that are approved and confirmed to be safe and effective by local health authorities and the WHO (World Health Organisation).”

It will see false claims about routine immunisations for diseases such as measles and Hepatitis B removed from YouTube.

These would include cases where bloggers have claimed that approved vaccines do not work, or wrongly linked them to chronic health effects.

But the Web site stated any Web content that “falsely says that approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that substances in vaccines can track those who receive them” will also be taken down.

It further said:  “As with any significant update, it will take time for our systems to fully ramp up enforcement.”

There would be exceptions to the new guidelines, with personal testimonials of negative experiences with vaccines still allowed, so long as “the channel doesn’t show a pattern of promoting vaccine hesitancy,” according to YouTube.

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